Speaking in the virtual keynote address to the annual ‘India Ideas Summit’ of the US India Business Council (USIBC), United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo described India as a few “trusted like-minded countries”.
Secretary Pompeo also called India an important partner and a key pillar of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy and also mentioned about India being a “rising” US defence and security partner in the Indo-Pacific and globally and the US desiring a “new age of ambition” in its relationship with India.
Pompeo went on to add that in the history of US-India relationship there has never been greater cooperation and support for India’s security.
He further said, “We don’t just interact on a bilateral basis. We see each other for what we are great democracies, global powers and really good friends. India is one of the few trusted like-minded countries whose leaders I call on a regular basis for counsel and collaboration on issues that span continents,”.
Pompeo also said the US has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the next G7 meeting to be hosted by President Trump and said, “I’m confident that our relationship is only getting stronger. Let’s emerge from this current challenge more resilient and innovative than before. And let’s seize this moment to deepen cooperation between two of the world’s greatest democracies,”.
“We will advance the economic prosperity network. It is the group of countries and organisations that we consider natural partners with we share values like democracy, transparency and rule of law,” he further added.
The Group of Seven (G-7) consists of economically developed countries like Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
They are the largest IMF-advanced economies in the world.
When asked on the growing defence partnership and security, Pompeo said, “I’m confident that with our concerted efforts, we can protect our interests”. We’ve revived the so-called quad that comprised the US, India, Japan and Australia. India is also part of a group of like-minded nations that I’ve convened regularly to advance shared interests,”.
With China being assertive in the South China Sea and making regular incursion in the Indian Ocean, India has deepened its defence relationship with the US, Australia, Japan and France in the Indo-Pacific region.
On Monday (July 20), a US Navy carrier strike group led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz carried out a military joint naval exercise with a fleet of Indian warships off the coast of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Indian Navy’s warships INS Rana, INS Sahyadri, INS Shivalik, and INS Kamorta were involved in an intense naval exercise with the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in the Indian Ocean off Andaman in the “PASSEX” exercise.
The exercise conducted close to Malacca Strait is to show China that there are countries who can block the important sea lane, vital for the communist country, and could easily choke the movement of its ships.
Such exercises enhance interoperability between two of the worlds most advanced navies. Both the countries are conducting high-end exercises designed to maximize training and this also includes air defence elements.
Also, it has been reported that the Indian Air Force (IAF) had also sent Jaguar fighter jets to Andaman and Nicobar Island which is very close to the critical and one of the busiest shipping lane, the Strait of Malacca.
India’s Minister for External Affair Minster S. Jaishankar who is set to release his new book titled “The India Way: Strategies For An Uncertain World”, said, “Non-alignment was a term of a particular era and geopolitical landscape,” Jaishankar said during a discussion on a TV channel. “The era of great caution, the era of greater dependence on multilateralism…that era is to a certain extent behind us,”.
The de-escalation process in Ladakh is still far from over as China is using every tactic to gain advantage in this region to safeguard its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under Belts and Road Initiative (BRI).
The joint naval exercise with the US navy is a clear signal to China that it will face stiff resistance for its muscle flexing.
The US had already stated that it rejects most of China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea as “completely unlawful” and the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had also said that the US will never allow China turn the South China Sea as its “maritime empire”.
Pompeo on July 21 came down heavily on China by saying that China cannot threaten countries and bully them in the Himalayas.